"You're Worse Than Hitler!"

    When Netanyahu first got elected to his current term, after the very short tenure of Yair Lapid, he was fleeing a looming corruption indictment. This fact colors all that follows.

    The minute I received news of the Oct 7^th attack, I knew that Netanyahu would capitalize upon it in the same way that W Bush capitalized on the WTC attack by invading Iraq and Afghanistan. Foresight did not fail me: Eight months later, 34,000+ Palestinians are dead, hundreds of thousands of others are now starving, the IDF is committing war crimes, several hundred hostages are still missing, and Hamas still exists. It is deeply ironic and significant that South Africa, which has gone through what Palestinians in Israel are now going through, is charging Israel with crimes against humanity at the ICC.

    The Israelis have to contend, above all, with the massive intelligence oversight of the occurrence of the attack itself, something that Netanyahu is at least indirectly responsible for. But beyond that lies greater danger: Netanyahu himself, during his first term and, worse, this term, is a demagogue who is now capitalizing on the Oct 7^th attack to preserve his own power at the expense of Israel’s long-term security and the United States’ moral credibility. So long as the hostages exist somewhere out there, (WMDs, anyone?) Netanyahu can wage his campaign of terror and revenge, thus preserving his hold on the government.

    Years ago, I read a book called The Two-State Delusion by Padraig O’Malley, which, among other things, gave a history of the demography of Israel and explained how the hard-right gained prominence. Netanyahu’s party, the Lukids, are functionally equivalent to the Evangelicals in the United States, but even more disastrous; they don’t participate in society, are exempt from conscription (there’s an ongoing court case in Israel right now about this very issue), but they vote in large numbers and drag all of Israel in line with their exclusionary, supremacist ideology. They make up the base of support for Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians. They are responsible for the pogroms and land seizures, and they are responsible for Netanyahu’s calamitous return to power.

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    In recent weeks, massive protests have erupted across college campuses in support of Palestinians. They each demand that their universities end investments that benefit Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Naturally, the forces that support Israel have the resources and the power to browbeat university leadership into using overwhelming violence to crack down on their students.

    Things are so intense that Congress wants to hold a hearing on universities that are not deploying jackboots against teenagers. Speaker Mike Johnson himself visited one campus to give his best Grandpa Simpson impression, despite leading the “least productive Congress ever.”

    Netanyahu, of course, chimed in with his Hitler Finger, smiting these protests with his almighty “You’re worse than Hitler!” attack. The GOP, of course, is going full-bore on these kids, because they can. What’s interesting is why.

    Over the past decade, CPAC has steadily been filling with a greater white supremacist, Neo-Nazi presence, and, according to one eyewitness, 2024’s event was thoroughly permeated with known fascist figures. It is not uncommon, especially now, for an elected Republican official to cavort with a known Neo-Nazi. Consequences for doing so have been getting progressively lighter.

    You don’t have to read The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt to know that Neo-Nazis hate Jews, and they are a much, much greater threat to Jews everywhere than the college kids who don’t support the Israeli government. It is also not surprising to me—and something I’ve known for a while—that many people who love Israel also hate Jews, and vice-versa (see Elon Musk). I have yet to figure out why, but if I had to guess, perhaps Israel is a model ethnostate, as far as they are concerned.

    So what does any of this have to do with the protests? It is easy, and extremely convenient, to be able to smear a bunch of politically illiterate college kids as antisemetic when the GOP is openly catering to fascism. The more they can look like they're doing something about antisemitism, the easier it is for Trump to have people like Nick Fuentes over for dinner.

    Netanyahu doesn’t seem to understand, or care at all, about this distinction, and it seems quite possible that both he and Israel in general may end up paying dearly for it in the future.